That Woman
by GeeDeeny
Summary: That Woman. The one held against her will. Forced to fight her own kind. That Woman. The result of various experiments. That Woman. A Conduit. About to cross paths with a man named Delsin Rowe. M for language, violence, naughty things etc. Features my own OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again folks! A quick one. Like I've done with Life Error as in write a story even though we haven't even got the game yet; I've had an idea about Infamous; Second Son. Here's just a short piece but if you're intrigued by this and would like me to write more, please please leave a comment or send me a message. Peace folks!**

**-Deeny xxxxx**

* * *

'_Who is she?'_

'_It took us a while but we finally found out. Caterina Mikkola.'_

'_That's a Finnish surname?'_

'_Her mother was from Finland. English father though. Born in England. Took her mother's surname when her parents divorced.'_

'_Is she of any threat?'_

'_See that collar around her neck? She's no threat to us with that on.'_

'_What does it do?'_

'_It's tamper proof. There's a small explosive charge either side of the collar. If she tries to take it off or if she steps out of line; it will detonate.'_

'_Severing the jugular veins.'_

'_Exactly. It also contains a microphone and a small camera, though she hasn't spoken a word since we put it on her.'_

'_So do you think we'll be able to use her?'_

'_Absolutely. We've tracked down her younger brother.'_

'_At least all that time and money that went in to her won't be wasted.'_

'_Indeed. She has to do as she's told or else she dies and so does her brother.'_

'_When does she go in to active duty?'_

'_Two days from now. That is if her testing goes well.'_

'_Well I suppose I had better get read up and acquainted with her seeing as I'm her handler.'_

'_That would be wise. We also request that you use her codename instead of her real name. Here are her files.'_

'_Carmine?'_

'_Yes. The last experiment turned most of her hair crimson. She briefly woke from her induced coma and melted most of the metal in the west wing when it happened.'_

'_She's that powerful?'_

'_Everything you need to know is in her files. So long as we have full control of her; Carmine is going to be our best weapon against the bioterrorists.'_

'_Can she… can she see us through this glass?'_

'_No,'_


	2. Chapter 2

Hey folks! Hope you've all had a nice Christmas/Holiday Season!

Just a quick one here. I'm visiting my family at the moment and thought I'd just upload it when I got five minutes. Enjoy, even though it is short. I'm trying to keep a bit of intrigue here!

Remember to fave, follow or send me a message and all that lovely stuff. Thanks to the Guest (you didn't leave your name!) who messaged me last. :)

Peace. - Deeny xxxxx

* * *

'Impaled on Rayacite. Ouch.'

D.U.P. Agent Martin Jones sat in his office reading through the dossier he had been given containing all the information he needed to know about his new charge; Caterina Mikkola. Codenamed Carmine. The woman was twenty-three years of age, five foot six inches in height and weighed around one hundred and twenty pounds. Pretty basic information on the front page, but Agent Jones carried on reading through.

'Oh wow.' Agent Jones mumbled to himself as he continued his reading.

'_Subject 3 proved to be incredibly difficult from the start. After the first bout of experiments, the subject became increasingly agitated and violent and seriously injured several staff members before being subdued and restrained. The lead researchers eventually came to the conclusion that the subject although showing incredibly promising results; was far too dangerous during these times of experimentation and testing to be kept conscious. Project Manager Dr. Maynard made the decision of placing the subject in a chemically induced coma during experimentation. Thanks to the Conduit Gene Splicing method pioneered by Dr. Maynard himself; the subject has so far developed an extra three abilities. The subjects own original ability was a form of cryokenesis; the ability to form and manipulate ice. Dr. Maynard's method involved isolating specific Conduit Gene code from the DNA of other Conduits and introducing this code to the subject via Stem Cells along with large doses of Ray Energy; which proved fruitful in Subject 3. Where very few Conduits have the natural ability to absorb the powers of other Conduits, Dr. Maynard was successful in introducing specifically chosen extra abilities to Subject 3. Those abilities include; Hydrokinesis, Telekinesis and Pyrokinesis.'_

'Jesus Christ.' Jones huffed. He flipped to the next page of the dossier and continued reading, sipping a cup of coffee he forgot he had left on his desk which was now going cold.

'_Subject 3 has so far been our most successful experiment; though further tests are being run to find out if her Conduit Gene actually allows her to readily absorb other powers. Whilst other test subjects have failed in previous experiments; Subject 3 showed no signs of power migration or refusal. This further continued when she was eventually awoken from her induced coma. When she was woken, her formal training officially began, hoping to utilize her new abilities to their full potential. Subject 3 has however retained her stubbornness and difficulty as she has become mute since her awakening over six months ago thus making communication incredibly difficult and halting our progress. Subject 3 also retained her aggression toward the facility staff to the point where she was nearly placed in another induced coma. The situation was however rectified when Subject 3 was installed with an explosive collar. The collar contains two small explosives on either side of the subjects neck which can be remotely detonated should she step out of line. It will also automatically detonate if the subject forcibly tries to remove it. The collar also contains a camera and a microphone to monitor whatever situation Subject 3 may be in. The data collected could prove useful to our research. Data regarding Subject 3's Hydrokinesis is incredibly valuable to us as this is an ability Subject 3 does not seem to like using very much; taking preference over her original Cryokinesis and her acquired Telekinesis abilities. Any data collected regarding Hydrokinesis use must be forwarded to our research team immediately. _

_A final note to the Agent who will be placed in charge of Subject 3. We suggest that you do not divulge any sensitive information to her. We also suggest that you try not to be too friendly with her. A professional working relationship is required, but try not to be too distant as we do eventually hope for Subject 3 to start talking again which would make our research a lot easier. If all goes well, Subject 3 will do her job as required and earn back some of her privileges which are our way of making sure she behaves and does as she is told. And to the Agent tasked with handling Subject 3; many bonuses are available to you on completion of Subject 3's missions and additional useful information retrieval._

_Regards,_

_D.U.P. Conduit Research Team.'_

Agent Jones closed the files and threw the folder back on his desk.

'I suppose I had better go introduce myself then. Better now than never.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! New Chapter here. :)**

**Thanks to Leanord who left me a message. Glad you're enjoying this so far. I'll post new chapters when I can, but this is obviously going to be beefed up a bit when the game is released and we actually have more information on it. So please look forward to them.**

**As always, please don't hesitate to leave comments or message me. Please fave and follow if you have a spare moment too! **

**Peace :)**

**-Deeny xxxxxx**

* * *

'It's okay Carmine, I got this.'

Agent Jones' voice buzzed in to Carmine's ear through the earpiece she had been issued. He could see a flurry of D.U.P. Officers swarm around her through the camera on her collar. Carmine; never having even seen a D.U.P. checkpoint followed what the rest of the public were doing when they were called over to place their hands on the scanner. Sure enough Carmine not knowing what she was doing just went ahead and stuck her hand straight on the scanner, setting off all the buzzers and bells alerting the officers to the presence of a Conduit, or a "Bioterrorist" as they started calling them now.

Agent Jones could only imagine Carmine's face as she was surrounded by a dozen D.U.P. Officers all with their guns raised and aimed at her head. She would probably look like she always did; nonchalant and emotionless.

'Guns down everybody. She goes through unharmed.'

Agent Jones reclined in to his chair. He was still back at HQ directing Carmine through her earpiece and bossing around a few minions in his mission room that he had been assigned to assist him. A small smile appeared on his face as he heard those words of the checkpoint superior being picked up by the microphone in Carmine's collar. This little incident though made him think about possible future occurrences. He instructed one of his staff to alert every D.U.P. checkpoint in the area about Carmine and inform as many officers as possible that she was a co-worker of theirs in a strange sort of manner.

The D.U.P. Officers had all lowered their guns and stepped aside, letting Carmine breeze through the checkpoint. Many of the officers stood scratching their heads as to why this woman; a bioterrorist was being let through the checkpoint, no questions asked and the order to let her through came from higher up. She walked through to the other side and soon disappeared. Agent Jones heard the familiar sound of whooshing air coming through Carmine's microphone and faint gasps from the officers on the ground; barely audible now as Carmine had bounded away. Agent Jones could see on his monitor that Carmine was using her Telekinetic abilities in something the researchers called the "Gravity Jump." Agent Jones had seen video footage of Carmine using this technique in the laboratory at HQ but it was a bit of a marvel seeing it happen in real-time. With every jump, Carmine gained even more height; using her Telekinesis to stop her body from hitting the ground then channelling the kinetic energy gained from falling back down to earth in to what could only be described as a psychic springboard which then propelled her even higher and further. None of the researchers had any idea how she was able to do this, but that was a frequent occurrence in their field. Nobody knew the reasons behind how Conduits could use their abilities the way they could, not even the Conduits themselves knew they just did it.

Carmine soon stopped jumping as she edged closer to the city and set herself down back on the ground to walk. She breathed in deep; all the smells of the city filled her nostrils. The sights and sounds of cars whizzing past, people on the sidewalks chatting away to each other or on phones and the colours of shop signs and billboards nearly made Carmine go in to a sensory overload. It had been a few years since she had seen humanity go about its daily business; she'd almost forgotten how vibrant and busy it was. All she had seen for over two years were mask covered faces, bright hospital and laboratory lights and the bare white walls of a place that was her room. But even then that was all she saw when she was awake. The researchers and God himself would be the only ones who knew what happened to her when she was put to sleep for most of that time.

* * *

Carmine's mission today was to get accustomed to Seattle and gather her bearings as she would be routinely set out on patrol and be called in to hunt down "bioterrorists" at a moment's notice. She had studied maps of the city but recognising landmarks and knowing the areas would server her better in getting from A to B quickly. It was nice for her to be out and about again but she knew that she would have to go back when she was called by Agent Jones. Eventually after hours and hours of walking and taking in the sights, Carmine wandered downtown. The city's scenery had changed again as well as the sound and smell but was still so vibrant and enriching. The graffiti on the walls had her in awe. Most of it was just people tagging their names here there and everywhere and some were huge pieces of art. A lot of it though had been painted over by the city council in an attempt to cover it up, but that didn't seem to stop anybody. Even bigger, brighter graffiti adorned the freshly painted walls.

Something did catch Carmine's eye though as she scanned the walls. There were several fairly large D.U.P. posters stuck to a wall she was looking at and one stood out more than the rest. One graffiti artist had spray painted a bright purple birdcage around the winged logo in the middle. This struck a chord with Carmine. She stared at the image in front of her for quite some time knowing exactly what its meaning was. She was eventually brought back from her daze when Agent Jones' voice come blaring through her earpiece to get a move on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again folks! How are you all!**

**Another quick chapter. Of course Delsin will eventually make an appearance but I'm building up to that. Thanks to Leanord for leaving me another message. I hope the wait for this chapter wasn't too long!**

**As always, please fave and follow! And if you have a spare moment, please leave me a review or even send me a message. I'd love to hear what you all think.**

**Peace guys!**

**-Deeny xxxxx**

* * *

Carmine was eventually called back to HQ by her handler. Agent Jones was waiting for her in the debriefing room. Though Agent Jones did wonder how this happened with somebody who didn't talk at all.

'So Carmine, how did your first day back outside go? Did you enjoy it?'

Carmine just stared at him.

'Okay, um well. That problem you had with the D.U.P. officers at the checkpoint. That should never happen again. I've circulated your photo and details to every checkpoint in and around the city so you should just be able to go through any checkpoint with no problems at all.

Carmine still stared at him. Agent Jones sighed heavily.

'Come on Carmine you gotta make it a bit easier for me. Like, I wanted to talk to you about getting your privileges back.'

Agent Jones recalled a side note he came across in Carmine's profile. One of the Psychiatrists assigned to the project that had been monitoring Carmine's progress throughout often added notes to any report that was made during her time there. The note he remembered stated that as Carmine had been kept away from the general public and her only interaction with people was when she was being prodded and poked by all the doctors and scientists; then obviously she would harbour some kind of resentment toward them and any other kind of figures of authority. After waking from her induced coma, she reverted back to an almost more innocent, childlike persona that would do as she was told as she knew that fighting against them would mean more pain and possibly her death as well as her younger brother's death. Carmine was cut off from any kind of stimuli such as television, music, books and art. Basically, if Carmine behaved; eventually she would have access to these things.

Carmine's face had softened slightly as Agent Jones had been talking to her about her privileges.

'So I wanted to get you something for today as everything went quite well besides the checkpoint incident. Nothing too fancy but, is there anything you would like at the moment?'

Carmine scrunched up her nose slightly as she gestured for Agent Jones to hand over the notepad and pen he carried with him. He complied and handed them over. She quickly scrawled on the notepad then handed it back.

'Art stuff?'

Carmine nodded.

'You want arty things like books or someth… No?'

Carmine was shaking her head. She waved her right hand around in the air as if she was drawing or painting something.

'Oh you mean art supplies, you want to draw or paint?'

Carmine nodded.

'Um okay well that's a pretty fair request. I'll see what I can do. In the meantime you should head down to the medical bay, they want to check you over down there and run a few tests.' Agent Jones said. He knocked on the door to let in one of the facilities security officers to take Carmine down to the medical bay. She was soon escorted out. Agent Jones brought out his phone and rang one of his support staff who was still on site somewhere.

'Hey Dave you wanna do me a favour? Yeah, can you go pick up some art supplies like paper, paints, felt tips. No huge paint brushes or pens with a lot of metal on them though. Yeah. Soon as you can. Thanks man.'

Carmine would be down at the medical bay for a short while. Hopefully it would be enough time for Dave to come back with everything that Agent Jones requested. They could leave everything in Carmine's room for when she was brought back so nobody really had to deal with her till the next morning.

* * *

Carmine eventually had finished all of her medical tests which consisted of some blood tests and a few scans. They did this every so often to see if anything had changed with her physically or even if her DNA had changed. Of course it was difficult for the doctors and researchers to deal with her as she didn't speak, but she knew the drill by now. She'd just go in; do as she was told and she'd be back in her room promptly after. She was escorted back to her room by the same security officer then left on her own. Her room was nothing spectacular. It was more like a strange hospital room that you would see in films. Everything was white. The walls were white, the bed was white, and the table and chair was white. Everything was also immaculate. Every time Carmine left the room they would send cleaners in to make her bed and put everything straight. Even the small bathroom accessed by a sliding door hidden away in the corner was cleaned from top to bottom every day. It bothered Carmine that everything was white. Though what she thought was quite funny was the fact that most of the time she was dressed in either grey or black and very little white.

Something was different though. Carmine noticed something was different as soon as she stepped in to her room and the door slid shut and locked behind her. There was some colour in her room finally in the form of small boxes and tins of paints and pens. She rushed over to her table and sat down to look through her new things. There were various grades of paper, a medium sized set of watercolour paints and a large pack of oil pastels. She dove in to them straight away, scribbling and doodling random things on the paper. After a lot of messing about, Carmine wondered what she could draw or sketch first. She looked amongst the oil pastels for the brightest purple she could find. She was going to try and replicate the birdcage graffiti she saw earlier on today.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone! A quick chapter for you all. Still at work at the moment but I'm on a break. Hope you all enjoy it. :)**

**Please fave and follow if you haven't done already. And don't be afraid to message me or leave a review. I'd love to hear what you think.**

**Peace – Deeny xxxxx**

* * *

'You gotta wonder though boss. I mean, why keep Carmine a secret from the rest of the D.U.P? It just doesn't make any sense.'

'Hmm I never thought of it that way. They probably never even thought about it.'

Agent Jones was chatting away to one of his staff members named Jerry. He was a young guy, maybe in his mid-twenties with spikey black hair, tattoos and piercings and thick rimmed glasses. He was quite a talkative guy, especially when it came to Carmine.

'I sort of think it's a shame really, the way she's been kept and experimented on at this place so no wonder why she was so violent toward everybody. But then again, she's the best most badass weapon we have against the other bioterrorists. And she's really pretty too.'

Agent Jones chuckled. 'So you wanna be in the same room as her and try having a conversation?'

'Pshh hell no I'm not a fighter. She'd tear me to pieces, even without her abilities.'

'Speak of the devil, she should be finished her morning training. Bring up the camera feed for her room.'

'Yes Sir.' Jerry pushed a few keys at his computer and brought the feed up to the huge main monitor on the far wall of the mission room. Carmine was sat at her table still in her workout clothing, scribbling away on a piece of paper. Agent Jones pressed down on a button on a microphone on his desk so Carmine could hear him through the speaker in her room.

'Carmine you have twenty minutes before we send you out.' Agent Jones' voice bellowed through the speaker. Carmine grabbed a new sheet of paper and scrawled on it with a chunky marker pen she had been given. Eventually she stood up and held the sheet of paper in front of the camera that was looking down on her.

"ACRYLICS AND CANVASSES NEXT TIME JONESY."

She threw the sheet of paper down after a few seconds of holding it up before she made her way to her bathroom for a quick shower.

'What the hell was that?' Agent Jones said sounding slightly confused. 'Did she just call me Jonesy?'

'Hey be glad boss, most of the time she greeted people in here with a head-butt or a fistful of ice they didn't even have a name.'

'I suppose. Though for some reason I seem to be interpreting that not as more of a… threat.'

'You think so?'

'Hmm she doesn't seem too happy.' Agent Jones sighed.

'Well if it's anything boss, she probably doesn't like you like the rest of them.'

* * *

Carmine was now prowling around the outskirts of the city. She couldn't believe that on her second day outside she was bored already. Everything on the outside was always kept in line and she soon realised that there would probably never be much in terms of trouble. That was until Agent Jones started barking orders at her.

'Carmine, get down to the checkpoint on Denny Way just past 6th Avenue. It's not far from the Space Needle. There's been a disturbance I want you to go and monitor.'

Seconds later, Carmine was already on her way; bouncing off buildings using her abilities. She was at her destination within minutes and set herself down on a rooftop where she could watch what was going on. A young man wearing a red beanie hat was busy running rings around the D.U.P. checkpoint officers who were trying their hardest to even graze him with a single bullet. Carmine watched in awe as she noticed he had abilities similar to hers. Whenever they manifested; smoke and glowing ember erupted from his hands and smothered the officers he was attacking.

Carmine often wondered if there were still many more Conduits around. She knew for sure that the ones who were the source of her other abilities were a long time dead. But even during her time at the institute she never even laid eyes on another like herself. Way back when her Cryokinesis powers manifested when she was visiting family in New Marais many years ago, Carmine barely came across any other conduits. She was far too busy looking for her younger brother who had gone missing and who she hasn't seen since; another reason why she had to do as she was told. The D.U.P. had told her they had her brother in custody and if she didn't behave; they'd kill them both. Though she did wonder if they were just lying to her, she had always thought that her brother was in fact dead. But this Conduit she was watching now was something else. He was tearing the D.U.P. officers to bits. The competitive side of her would have loved to fight against him just to see who would win, but she couldn't at this moment. Agent Jones was telling her just to observe.

Carmine absolutely knew that she would have to go up against this guy at some point, hence why Agent Jones wouldn't let her go in to attack now. It was obvious that this guy was pretty powerful. But Carmine was powerful too and very competitive. The guy had finished attacking all the officers that had thrown themselves at him and was now making his escape as more reinforcements would arrive soon.

'Carmine, the higher ups are requesting you return. Don't go after him just get back A.S.A.P.' Agent Jones told her through her earpiece. Carmine complied, smiling for no reason.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello my lovelies! :)**

**First of all, thank you to the guest who left me a comment (you didn't leave your name dearie!) and a huge thank you to NastsTeacup who commented, faved and followed! I'm so glad you're enjoying this story. I do have to say, like Life ERROR it is kind of hard to write as really we don't have much to go on but I'm doing the best I can with what information we've got. At least I'll have my OC developed well enough before we get any more information about the game that's for sure!**

**So thanks again you two. Please message and comment as I go on and to anyone who hasn't done already, I'd love to hear from you! :)**

**-Peace**

**Deeny xxxx**

* * *

Carmine was back in her room, sat at her table furiously scribbling away again on a piece of paper. Agent Jones had been called in to a meeting with his bosses regarding the bioterrorist who did a number on one of the D.U.P. checkpoints earlier. Agent Jones had also finally managed to meet the famous Dr. Maynard. A tall, near bald man with tufts of grey hair circling the lower half of his head with a tanned slightly weathered looking face. They discussed the bioterrorist in great detail; Dr. Maynard insisting that he be brought in alive for his study. Dr. Maynard also insisted that he see Carmine. Agent Jones obliged and escorted him in to the secure wing where Carmine's room was along with a security guard. Agent Jones could swear he saw a brief look of fear on Carmine's face as soon as Dr. Maynard walked in. It was soon replaced with pure hate as the Dr. started talking.

'Good afternoon Carmine. I hope you've been keeping well.'

The woman just passed him a quick glare then looked back down at the paper she had been drawing on and carried on scribbling.

'So Carmine, you've seen a fellow prime conduit. How do you feel about that?' Dr. Maynard asked the crimson haired woman. She just continued with her drawing. Though Agent Jones noticed Carmine had now gone from a vigorous scribble in to more of a gouge as the Dr. spoke to her. Any harder and she'd go straight through the table.

'I know you want to fight him, but that will come in due course. We'd like to monitor him for a while before we give you the go ahead.'

Carmine carried on gouging her pencil in to the paper.

'We would also like it if you showed some restraint during your inevitable fight with this man as we would like him back here in one piece. We do believe you're the only one that can take him down.'

Dr. Maynard just sighed. 'Agent Jones please take over from here she's still as difficult as ever.'

The Dr. left swiftly leaving Agent Jones to try and communicate with Carmine. He sat in the chair opposite her as the security guard stood by the door watching on.

'I can tell you don't like him much. He is kinda creepy.' Agent Jones said. Carmine sighed then held up one of the sheets of paper she had been hacking away at. She had drawn a rather funny caricature of Dr. Maynard with his head encased in a block of ice. Agent Jones could do nothing but chuckle. He remembered in some later notes he had received that Carmine had in fact tried doing that to Dr. Maynard on several occasions and she still seemed intent on doing it.

'Carmine we haven't come across another conduit as potentially strong as you in quite a while. It is imperative that he be brought in for questioning as soon as we're given the go ahead to do so. '

The woman just looked up at Agent Jones after he said the word "questioning" with a raised eyebrow and grin to say 'Yeah, right. Questioning.'

'So tomorrow when you go out on your rounds please keep an eye out for this man or anything else you may find suspicious. I can give you a certain amount of freedom to investigate.' Said Agent Jones.

Carmine was still scribbling on her piece of paper till she threw her pencil down and pushed the paper over to Agent Jones. He screwed up his nose slightly at what she had drawn. He looked back up at the woman who was now slouched back in her chair with her arms folded, then back down at what she had just drawn.

'Carmine I had, I had no idea you were this talented.'

The woman just shrugged and rolled her eyes.

Agent Jones was looking at a drawing that looked exactly like a photograph. He thought back to not more than thirty minutes prior when he was shown CCTV images of the man who was terrorising the D.U.P. Checkpoint. Carmine had drawn the man in perfect detail from the few glimpses she actually got of his face.

'Carmine how did you… how did you do this?' Agent Jones asked as he studied the picture. Carmine fiddled about with a small stack of paper and passed them over. Agent Jones flicked through the pages, all of which had a rather intricate drawing on them. One was of the D.U.P. Checkpoint she was nearly apprehended at the other day. One picture was of the Space Needle and another one was of a Latte Owl store that Agent Jones instantly recognised as the one down on the corner of 12th Avenue. Every single drawing was perfect.

'You have an eidetic memory don't you Carmine.' Agent Jones stated. The woman just simply nodded. Agent Jones looked back at the drawing of the male conduit. It was so good; it could have been used as a wanted poster. He even wondered if he could run it through their facial recognition programs. It was a thought; at least there was a possibility of getting the guy's name. Though Agent Jones did think the name Carmine had given him was quite funny. She had scrawled "SMOKEY BOY" at the bottom of the page in big scratchy capital letters.

'Can I keep this?' Agent Jones asked as he held up the drawing. Carmine simply reached over and snatched the page out of his hand and put it with her other drawings. She stood up from the table and grabbed a roll of sticky tape out of her little art supply box. She shuffled over to one of the big blank walls in her room and started to stick her drawings to it randomly.

'Okay Carmine.' Agent Jones started, he had an idea. 'I think, if you can draw us pictures of things that you see that aren't um, normal or if they're out of place anything like that then you can give them to me. Okay?'

Carmine carried on sticking her drawings to her wall. She just waved her hand at Agent Jones as if to say "Go away I'm busy."

'Right I'll err, see you tomorrow.'

Agent Jones retreated and let the security guard on standby lock the door as he left.

'_Now we might be getting somewhere.'_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey folks! How's it going! :D**

**So here's another chapter, I hope you guys like it. Delsin is gradually making more of an appearance now! Ooh, I'd also like to thank Dimension Distorter for favouriting, following and leaving me a comment! You've pretty much hit the nail on the head there so I'm guessing you have an idea where I'm going with this! The idea of natural and man-made in the world of Conduits intrigues me. I hope you look forward to the next parts of my story anyway! :) It's always great to hear your thoughts.**

**And that goes for all of you! Don't forget to fave and follow if you like this story and leave a comment if you have a moment! I'd love to hear what you all think.**

**Bye for now guys!**

**Peace – Deeny xxx**

* * *

'Carmine remember, you're only following this guy okay? That is if you find him first.'

Those were Carmine's orders for the day. She had been let out in the morning to wander around the city as she pleased. Seattle was a big place but with all the surveillance and a direct line to her handler; she could easily and quickly make her way over to wherever she was needed. But right now she was stood in line waiting to order coffee in a Latte Owl store not far from the Space Needle. She shuffled up to the counter after a quick glance at the board littered with various types and styles of coffee, some of which she had never even heard of.

'Morning, can I take your order?' Said the young girl behind the counter. Carmine knew what she wanted and opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a sigh. She scrunched up her face as she thrust her hand in to her coat pocket and pulled out a small notebook and a pencil. The girl behind the counter stared for a moment in confusion as she watched Carmine scribble on her notebook then hold up what she had written.

"LARYNGITIS."

'Oh. Oh! Don't worry about it!' The girl exclaimed. 'What would you like?'

Carmine quickly scribbled on a fresh page in her notebook and held it in front of the girl.

"LARGE MACCHIATO. FULL FAT MILK. AND A WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIE TO GO PLEASE."

'No problem. That'll be six-fifty.'

Carmine had pestered Agent Jones earlier on with a barrage of mad pictures she had drawn and rather threatening looking writing, arguing that she couldn't be expected to prowl around the city for hours and hours on end without at least being able to buy a drink or a snack. She never had any money at all. It wasn't like how the rest of her D.U.P. co-workers got a salary. She got a grand total of imprisonment and the joys of being experimented on. Agent Jones had eventually given in to her stern looks and repeated fists slamming down on table and gave her twenty dollars out of his own pocket. She was pretty pleased when she was eventually let out of the institute. She had now handed over the twenty dollar bill over the girl behind the counter and was quickly issued her change. Carmine was now grinning slightly as she heard Agent Jones groaning through her earpiece knowing damn well that she had just breached her dietary allotment. Carmine was in the outside world and she never got anything like this back at the institute and was on a strict diet; though Agent Jones could put these little purchases down as one of her privileges.

Carmine soon got her huge coffee and cookie and showed her notebook to the girl where she had written "THANK YOU!" along with a smiley face. She even deposited two bucks in to the tip jar sat on the counter before smiling then shuffling away with her goodies.

'Thank you, have a nice day!' The girl called after her.

Carmine was quite happy. She had her coffee and her chocolate cookie and was sat on a bench watching the world go by as well as taking pleasure in the fact that she could hear Agent Jones huffing and groaning through her earpiece, telling her to get a move on and drink her "damn coffee and get some work done." Agent Jones could barely see anything either. Every time Carmine sipped out of the cardboard cup or took a bite out of the cookie, they both obscured the camera on the front of her collar on the account of them being so big.

'Carmine when you're done,' Agent Jones blurted. 'Head on over to Pioneer Square. You haven't really been that way yet, never know you might get lucky.'

Carmine did as she was told. She finished her cookie, downed the rest of her coffee then put all her rubbish in to the nearest trash can she could find. She took to the roofs of buildings to get there quickly. So long as she wasn't too gung-ho and played it moderately safe, she could get to Pioneer Square with little fuss and hopefully without causing too much of an attraction of herself. She enjoyed the trip over, feeling a sense of freedom as she bounded across buildings; effortlessly gliding through the air feeling the rush of wind on her face and the sun on her skin. Carmine enjoyed being high up, so much so she decided to perch herself on the roof of the Pioneer Building where she got a good view of the Square.

* * *

People watching was becoming a firm hobby of hers by now. She spent hours on the roof peering down at the people on the street, letting the voice in her head run wild with anything it wanted to say.

"_I wonder what that couple are fighting about. That skirt is hideous. I bet she's just spent a small fortune on those shoes." _

Carmine's thoughts intermingled with her creative side. She'd watch the world go by as she scribbled in her notebook; sketching anything she thought was interesting, particularly people. The voice in her head would continue to chip in with the odd remark.

_"Ooh that's a nice car. I really like that coat that lady has there. Wow he looks so tall even from up here! I recognise that guy over there…"_

Carmine furrowed her eyebrows as she repeated the words that she thought to herself, it didn't sound right; she didn't know anybody in this city. She stopped sketching in her notepad and looked again. Of course she recognised who it was, it was Smokey Boy. He was just standing in the middle of the Square, pacing around with his hands tucked in to his pockets. Carmine started sketching furiously again. The image she was drawing came to fruition quickly and she held the finished product in front of the camera on her collar for Agent Jones to see.

'Carmine keep watching him. Don't get close to him okay?' Agent Jones sounded over her earpiece.

Carmine ignored him completely. She quickly jumped off the Pioneer Buildings roof and made her way down to street level trying not to be noticed; jumping over to another building that didn't have as many people around and a small alleyway at the side she could creep through without being noticed. She was back out in to Pioneer Square and soon spotted Smokey Boy. He was still pacing about. It was just after lunch time now and the Square was fairly busy with people, Carmine took the opportunity to get closer. She stared intently at the guy, walking toward him with a slight grin on her face. The people in the Square walked around her as she continued walking, never deviating from her straight line course over to him. Agent Jones kept repeating in Carmine's ear that she wasn't to get any closer. But she ignored him and got closer still. The guy had eventually noticed her. Carmine stopped dead in her tracks still with a creepy grin on her face. She could see all of him in much greater detail now stopping barely twenty yards away. The guy screwed up his face slightly as he carried on watching Carmine watching him, he was about to walk over to her when all of a sudden; she raised her right arm, stuck her thumb out and pointed her index finger at him. She mimicked a gun like children do when they're playing then motioned that she had just fired a round and got a bit of recoil. She continued to grin as she slowly brought her index finger to her mouth and pretended to blow away the smoke that was billowing out of her childish finger gun. The man looked at her like she was crazy. He blinked once and she was gone.

The young man was a little bit confused. A woman who looked around the same age as him, wearing black clothes with mostly vivid crimson hair with a good chunk of it black on the side had just stood in the middle of Pioneer Square and fired off a pretend bullet at him, with her pretend finger-gun. He shook his head and wandered over to where she was stood. He noticed something on the ground, a small notebook that had a huge footprint on it. He quickly picked it up and started flicking through the pages. There were some random words and sentences written on some pages like "LARYNGITIS" and "THANK YOU" but most of the pages were filled with drawings. Some were of buildings, one he found was of Pioneer Square from up on high and there were many drawings of people. All the drawings were really good and quite realistic. Then he came across one he knew immediately; it was him. An intricate drawing of him was in the last page of the notebook. The guy was officially creeped out now.


End file.
